Valentines means gardening.

     I tend to schedule my gardening around spring holidays. Valentine's Day means planting indoor plants and gearing up.  St. Patrick's day means planting cold weather outdoor plants and planting warmer indoor plants.  Mother's Day is the kick off for the rest of the garden.
    Now this is not an exact science but it does give me a day to plan toward.  for example last year at this time I tried planting peas and had them in the ground by the 15th of February.  This year the garden is under a foot of snow. As a side note, I saw no advantage to planting peas this early they did come up but no early than the seeds I planted a month later.
     Now is the time of year when I plant my broccoli, and cauliflower indoors. They can handle the cold, and the are harvestable before the nasty caterpillars come out and ruin everything.  During this time I also map out the garden I make a simple table on my computer, and then draw in the rows and plants when I hope to put them. There is a copy of my blank map on the PDFs page.  Lastly I take a seed inventory so I can pick them up in early March or late February to beat the rush.  Anderson's can get pretty crazy in April.

Garlic and Taters

It should be time to dig up your garlic.  It should look or start looking yellow and dried up, this means that it is ready to harvest.  So if it looks like that dig it up and put it somewhere to dry.










Also I wanted to share my potatoes.  Normally I wouldn't dig them up until the first frost but they were starting to show signs of blight so I dug up the ones that had the worst of it and here what I got.  Not bad eh?

Not bad for two months early.

Cover those Taters!

As your potatoes begin to sprout and come out of the ground make sure that you are covering them with shovel or trowel(depending of the plant size) full piles of dirt.  This allows you to grow potatoes in looser dirt while not having to dig a deep hole when you harvest in the fall.  I do a daily run through checking for new sprouts and covering with dirt.  I continue to cover the potatoes daily until I can't anymore due to the hill being too tall for the row space provided, or when I run out of dirt.

What are you doing and/or planning?

The start of the garden season is upon us as previous posts would show. Currently, I have peas sprouting, leaf plants sprouting, and garlic sprouting. My brussel sprouts are growing and I am waiting on potatoes to sprout so I can begin covering them.

The plan for the weekend is to plant carrots. Put up pea trellises so they can climb and stay out of the dirt (post of follow). Weed the garlic and put down some Preen.

A brief note about the Magic of Preen:

Preen is a granule, when added to the soil, prevents weeds from growing by killing the seeds before they germinate. It should be applied to soil where plants are already established. It will kill your vegetable seeds if they have not properly germinated. However, it is wonderful once you have weeded to be able to apply the Preen and not have to worry about nearly as many weeds. Keep in mind it's not a cure all. You will still get weeds but it lessens the blow and makes weeding much more manageable.

Bye Bye Brassicas.

Well I planted my brassicas (broccoli and cauliflower, namely) a little too early. Well that is not entirely true. It wasn't that I planted them too early I didn't cover them on the really cold nights and they froze to death. Lesson learned. I will either wait next year until April or go out on the cold nights and cover the plants. Lucky for me, I have more seeds!

What Can I Plant?

It is fast approaching garden season. In some cases it has already arrived. Currently I have my leaf vegetables (lettuce and spinach) in the ground seed and small plant. I also have my brossicas (broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts) growing in small plant form. It may be a tad early and I may have to watch the weather for cold nights but I have done it before this early. I also planted some radishes and my peas and potatoes all in a seed form. There isn't really much else that is safe to plant currently, outside. However my vegetables indoors are thriving, and hope to be able to get them in the ground sometime after Mother's Day.

In Vegetables I Trust

I thought my last post would be more helpful if I shared the vegetables I like and why so here goes.

Beans
I really like Slenderette as a bush variety. The grow long and thin and don't really get too thick however I plant Pole Beans Blue Lake Variety mainly because they are easier to pick as they grow up my trellises.

Beets
Detroit Dark are the most common variety but I really like the taste of Scarlett Supreme, they're what I plant.

Broccoli
I plant Premium Crop because is produces a nice big head, and further pickings produce good sized flowers. I have tried the Packman and didn't really like the size of the flower. However the flavor of both is comparable.

Cantaloupe
I have only really planted Roadside but I absolutely love them. I am trying a new variety this year along with roadside called Ambrosia so we will see.

Corn
I don't plant corn anymore because of the space it takes up and it is pretty cheap in the store if you can't find someone willing to share. However, when I plant it I plant Ambrosia.

Cucumber
I really like Armenian cucumbers and have planted them in past. They are a very different taste and texture. The best part about them is they don't get bitter if they stay on the vine too long. The best regular variety that I have found is Sweet Slice. They are great but they will go bitter.

Peas
I plant two varieties of peas: a pod pea where you just eat the pea seed and a sweet pea where you eat it all. The pod pea I plant is Little Marvel however I am trying Lincoln this year as well, so we will have to see. The sweet pea I plant is Oregon Sugar Pod, they are amazing.

Pepper
I don't do spicy peppers. The two peppers I plant are California Wonder and Orange Sun.

Potatoes
I simply plant Red potatoes nothing fancy.

Squash
My family has always planted Buttercup. It has a much stronger flavor and isn't as bland as Butternut. I am trying Acorn this year so we will have to see with that one as well.

Tomatoes
I plant Roma and that is it. I love the versatility of the Roma it doesn't have a lot of water for salsa, sauces, or other cooking things. They also work great on sandwiches I just cut them lengthwise.

Zucchini
I plant Golden Rush zucchini. It is a yellow zucchini which we like a lot better. A couple other perks is you can see it so it doesn't get too huge and not to mention there is always someone who has a green variety.


The Jury's still out.

Carrots
I have really found a variety I love I have planted Sweetness a number of times but I haven't found any that I love so I am trying a wide variety this year in hope of finding a good variety.

Cauliflower
I am trying Snowball and Stardust for the first time this year. I will let you know what I like.

Eggplant
I am trying the variety Long Purple will share too.